Oral care implements such as toothbrushes are typically used in conjunction with a dentifrice or similar oral care product for cleansing the teeth and/or soft tissue in the oral cavity. The dentifrice or product may contain one or more ingredients which, when administered with the oral care implement generally via a brushing or rubbing action, provide an oral health benefit to the user, such as removing plaque and debris from the surface of the teeth and/or gums, polishing and whitening teeth, reducing sensitivity, reducing oral surface bacteria populations, and other benefits. However, it is often advantageous when brushing one's teeth or rubbing soft tissue in one's oral cavity to supplement the oral care benefit(s) by further dispensing one or more additional oral care products in a fluid form into the oral cavity, or by further stimulating the soft tissue, in order to optimize the oral care regimen.
US2010/278582 and US2005/238412 disclose respective electric toothbrushes, each with two motors. One of the motors is for driving movement of a brush head, while the other of the motors is for driving a pump. U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,723 describes a toothbrush with a motor that concurrently drives both a brush head and a pump. US2010/0284728 discloses an electric toothbrush with a moveable brush head, a pump for pumping fluid to the brush head, and a motor. Rotation of the motor in either direction drives movement of the brush head, and the pump is driven only in one rotation direction of the motor.
Each of these prior art toothbrushes has inherent problems, such as being bulky and/or heavy, wasteful of oral care fluid, or inconvenient to use.
An improved oral care implement, such as a toothbrush, capable of dispensing a fluid while in the oral cavity, or stimulating soft tissue, is therefore desired.